In this issue, we are excited to debut a new feature: Self-Published Books Showcase (p. 32). As a service to librar-ians hoping to collect the best titles fromthe ever-growing self-published universe,we have partnered with BlueInk Review,a fee-based service devoted exclusively toself-published books and featuring professional, unbi-ased reviews written by critics drawn from mainstreampublications and by editors from prominent publishinghouses. In our first of the month issues, we will pub-lish a curated selection of BlueInk reviews featuringthe best books from their recent issues. Both adult andyouth titles will be included in our selection. One of thethings I’ve been proudestof in my years at Booklistis the way we have alwaysstrived to extend our cover-age to emerging sectionsof the publishing world.

In that sense, I see our
Self-Published Books Showcase as continuing a tradition that reaches back at least as far as the early 1970s,
when we launched a column called Small Press Scene,
a then-exploding corner of publishing that had not received adequate coverage in the library market.

Also in this issue, we revisit two of our favorite
spotlight topics: series nonfiction for youth and, of
course, food. As anyone knows who has ever seen the
Booklist editors at our morning coffee break, we will
eat anything—except possibly Fig Newtons. It turns out
that our appetite for food lit is equally voracious, as the
reviews and features in this issue attest. Finally, we’re
always happy to publish another Spotlight on Series
Nonfiction because it’s a relief when our series editor, Julia Smith, appears unharmed from beneath the
massive pile of the season’s series books that have engulfed her office.